Your Life Is Now

How often are you saddled with worry, anxiety, work, and just life in general? I’m not going to waste your time – so here is the most important lesson in my column today:

You are here for a purpose, and your time is limited? Do not forget to live and enjoy your life. Do not forget that your life is NOW, at this very moment of time. What keeps you so busy that you can’t stop and go for that walk in nature or take that bubble bath and just relax? What are the excuses as to why YOU’RE NOT doing the things you want to do in your life? Even if it’s just for 30 minutes, once or twice a week?

Now what if you were told you had only 6 weeks to live?What would you be thinking about?What would you want to do?Who would you want to see?

It’s been said that when people are on their death beds the only thing they regret is not that they didn’t spend more time working but that they didn’t spend more time with those they love.

I can hear it now – you’re saying, but Beverly, I’ve got responsibilities and work – you know we have to pay our bills and the children have school and extra-curricular activities and so forth… and I will tell you that I do know, and I’m not saying to not do those things (at least most of those things). But what I am saying is maybe it’s time to start prioritizing the things on your to do list. For instance, is it really necessary for your children to be in five different extra-curricular activities at school? How stressed are your children? It’s been said that our children are way more stressed today than they were several years ago. Psychologytoday.com says: “…anxiety has been increasing. The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950’s.”

Wow, now that’s a lot of anxiety! It’s been well established that stress and anxiety cause most of our health problems. This would include children as well. What we don’t always realize is that children need down time too. This makes you stop and think – is all of this stress worth it? And what are the possible consequences for living in the fast lane? I think we can readily see the answer to these questions. So what is the solution?

“LIFE IS SHORT AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR ALL OF US. WE DON’T WANT TO LOOK BACK AND REGRET THINGS TOMORROW THAT WE CAN CHANGE TODAY.”
BEVERLY BUTLER

First, realize that your life is NOW – not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. It’s NOW, today. We have no guarantees that we will be here in the next five minutes much less a year from now. So stop and do this exercise for just five minutes. This is something that I learned from Tony Robbins a few years ago. I’ve used this more than once and believe me it really works!

Sit in a rocking chair, if you have one, and if you have one on a porch then all the better. Sit in your rocking chair and imagine you are at the end of your life in your 90’s and you’re rocking in your chair thinking about your life and how you’ve lived it. Imagine your life as it is now and if you stay on the course you’re on and don’t change – how do you imagine your life turning out when it’s over? How do you feel at this moment? What are you proud of? What do you regret?

Then imagine what your dream life would have been like if you had done all the things you wanted to do. Think about your present life and how you would do things differently if you had the chance and include those things in this dream life you are imagining now. How do you feel? Eye opening isn’t it? Well, it’s not too late. Chances are you’re not at the end of your life. You still have time to make your dream life a reality. But you can’t do that if you’re not conscious of how you spend your time, use your thoughts and manage your days so that these things can become a reality.

We don’t get a second chance to live our life again. Take time to think about what’s really important to you and start prioritizing your life. Because your life is NOW. Do what you love, smell the roses, get out in nature, take time for yourself and enjoy the little things in life.

YOU CAN ENJOY LIFE, AND STILL MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. TAKE TIME FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT AND YOUR LIFE IS NOW!